The present invention is directed to a clip for electrically connecting a plurality of integrated circuit chips in parallel with a similar integrated circuit chip that is connected in circuit on a circuit board. More particularly the present invention is directed to a clip for stacking dual-in-line integrated circuit packages and for electrically connecting the same in parallel so as to increase the density of the circuit board mounted integrated circuits without the necessity of extensive redesign.
In designing a microprocessor of the type which utilizes integrated circuit chips, the designer allocates a fixed amount of board space to a fixed number of memory chips, which number depends on the strength of the desired processor. Typically, a small microprocessor would utilize a single memory chip having 1K worth of memory. Once the design is finalized and the system is in operation, expansion of the memory, to a capability past the design capability, requires expensive modifications in the circuit boards on which the memory chips are located.
The clip of the present invention enables the paralleling of like memory chips with a memory chip that is mounted to a circuit board. Expansion of memory is generally accomplished by paralleling all common lines except, for example, the chip enable (memory enable line), such that only the chip receiving an enable signal will be selected and respond to the signals appearing on the remaining chip pins, for example, the input and output pins, the address pins, and the data in and the data out pins. It would be highly advantageous to eliminate the redesign of a board in order to accommodate additional memory chips and, in addition, it would be advantageous to have the capability of adding additional memory chips in a manner which enables easy rework of the chips.